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Judge Orders Restoration of Hundreds of Suspended UCLA Research Grants

Finding that NSF’s blanket suspensions breached her June injunction, Judge Lin set an Aug. 19 deadline for reinstatement of those awards under threat of further court action.

FILE - Students walk past Royce Hall at the University of California, Los Angeles, campus in Los Angeles, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
FILE - People walk between buildings on Harvard University campus, Dec. 17, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
People walk on the plaza outside Royce Hall, the site of 2024 pro-Palestinian protests, on the UCLA campus on July 30, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Students in front of Royce Hall  on the UCLA campus in Westwood on August 7.

Overview

  • U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin ruled that the National Science Foundation violated her June preliminary injunction by suspending roughly 300 UCLA grants without grant-specific explanations.
  • The order applies solely to NSF awards and does not cover NIH or DOE suspensions, leaving hundreds of millions in funding still frozen under other agencies.
  • The administration must file a status report by August 19 detailing whether the NSF grants have been restored or explaining why reinstatement remains unfeasible.
  • The ruling undercuts the White House’s reported $1 billion settlement proposal to resolve DOJ antisemitism findings at UCLA and adds pressure to ongoing campus negotiations.
  • UCLA officials and California leaders warn that prolonged funding freezes threaten layoffs, cut graduate stipends and stall critical research on cancer, clean energy and other fields.